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En Sabah Nur (Earth-616)
Real Name: En Sabah Nur Nicknames: The Eternal One, the High Lord Aliases: Set (not to be confused with the primeval demon of that name or the Egyptian god Seth), Huitxilopochti, Sauru, Kali-Ma Status Occupation: Conqueror Legal Status: N/A Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of Apocalypse's existence. Marital Status: Marital status unknown Group Affiliation: Employer of Apocalypse's Horsemen, Dark Riders, former employer of the Alliance of Evil Base of Operations: Mobile, formerly a sentient starship created by the Celestials Origin Origin: Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur (First One) is a disfigured immortal mutant, possibly an External, born in the mid-30th century BC during the First Dynasty in the Akkaba settlement of Egypt. Abandoned by his parents, he was discovered and raised by the leader of the desert nomad Sandstormers, Baal, and indoctrinated in the tribe's philosophy of survival of the fittest, as Baal saw in him the potential to be a god. After his awesome powers emerge and he claims his destiny by overcoming Pharaoh Rama-Tut he travels the globe for centuries, being worshiped as a god wherever he goes and raising armies to do his bidding. Apocalypse eventually comes across a Celestial starship in Mongolia and is metamorphosed and empowered by its technology since the Traveler's techno-organic blood is accidentally mixed with his own. He sets out to conquer Earth and ensure mutant supremacy, as the mutant savior. Place of Birth: Egypt Known Relatives: Baal (adoptive father, deceased), Stryfe (adopted son, deceased); Clan Akkaba (descendants), Chamber (Jonothan Starsmore, distant descendant), Blink (Clarice Ferguson, descendant) First Appearance: (in shadow) ''X-Factor'' (Vol. 1) #5, (fully seen) ''X-Factor'' (Vol. 1) #6 History Apocalypse was born nearly five thousand years ago in Egypt as a member of the Akkaba clan. Even as an infant, he inspired fear. Ugly and malformed, he was abandoned by the tribe to die in the harsh desert sun. However, a roving band of feared desert nomad raiders, the Sandstormers, slaughtered the population. Their ruthless leader, Baal, found the child crying in rage. Most of them, too, thought the infant should die, though, Baal somehow recognized the potential power in the child. He named him En Sabah Nur ("The First One") in anticipation of others like him and raised him as his own son. As En Sabah Nur grew, he surpassed the other tribesmen in intelligence and strength. Everyone in the tribe except for Baal hated and feared him for his inhuman looks and great abilities. Nur did not understand their fear, but hardened his heart against it. Moreover, he believed in the principle that Baal and the tribe lived by, that only the fittest, the toughest, most ruthless and pitiless, tested by hardship, would, and should, survive. On the day of his tribal rite of passage into manhood, the seventeen-year-old En Sabah Nur killed three armed warriors of the tribe using only his bare hands. At this time Egypt was ruled by Pharaoh Rama-Tut. On the day of En Sabah Nur's rite of passage, Baal explained to him that Rama-Tut was no god, as most believed, but a man, who had arrived in a strange vessel. Years ago the tribe had stumbled upon the time-traveler's crashed ship, taken the injured man back to their camp, and nursed the injured and temporarily blinded man back to health. One night he wandered away, taking with him objects the tribesmen had brought from his vessel. Weeks later, his sight restored, Rama-Tut returned, wielding weapons of devastating power and leading the Egyptian army. He massacred the tribe and enslaved the survivors. Although he tortured them, no one revealed the timeship's location. In actuality, Rama-Tut was a time traveler from the far future who would later become known as Kang the Conqueror. Kang knew that Apocalypse, one of the most powerful mutants who ever lived, and the one who was destined to rule the world, had been born in ancient Egypt. Hence, Rama-Tut had gone back in time to find Apocalypse as a child, raise him, and thereby become the master of the most powerful being on the planet. On the day of his rite of passage, Baal brought the young Nur to a sacred cave whose entrance became blocked by a cave-in, trapping them underground. After a week of wandering without food or water, they found the remnants of Rama-Tut's timeship within an underground Egyptian tomb. Baal told Nur that he believed him to be a conqueror whose coming was foretold in ancient prophecies, and that Nur was destined to overthrow Rama-Tut. Then Baal died from lack of nourishment, and Nur, whose mutant physiology kept him alive, vowed to take vengeance on Rama-Tut and claim his destiny. Four weeks later he finally made his way back to the surface, but was quickly enslaved. While a slave, he kept his disfigured lips constantly covered, and Nephri, sister of Rama-Tut's warlord Ozymandias, became attracted to the mysterious slave. Eventually he had a vision of the Egyptian death god Seth, who urged him to become a conqueror. En Sabah Nur was thrown into a pit of snakes, but survived when his superhuman powers activated. He revealed his face to Nephri, who rejected him for his appearance. At a time when many time-traveling super-heroes, including the Fantastic Four, the West Coast Avengers, and Dr. Strange arrived in Rama-Tut's Egypt, the Pharaoh finally came face to face with En Sabah Nur. Rama-Tut offered to make him his heir if he would swear his loyalty, and then tried to kill him when Nur refused. En Sabah Nur had been shot by the Pharaoh with the same weapon he used to depower the Fantastic Four. En Sabah Nur was again left to die, but survived with the sudden emergence of his mutant immortality and mass shifting. With his powers flaring, Nur defeated Ozymandias and Rama-Tut himself, who finally escaped back into the future, eventually to take on the identity of Kang. The Fantastic Four went back to their era, thinking the explosion a booby trap. Apocalypse used his abilities to turn Ozymandias into a sand-like being, who would record Apocalypse's accomplishments throughout time. Years later, he revisited Nephri, now an ancient Egyptian Queen, and he mocked her dying beauty, as he was still as he had been years before. He walked away, leaving Egypt. From then on Apocalypse plotted the conquest of the planet through bringing about wars and conflict, in which the strong would defeat and destroy the weak. Over the centuries he was worshiped by many civilizations under a variety of names. In this Universe, it is important to note, these beings also exist as separate entities. Apocalypse was most likely confused for them. It is probably at this time that Nur began to have progeny that faithfully followed him as the Clan Akkaba. Offspring of Apocalypse receive a portion of his power, those closest related having near identical abilities. Mutants, he was certain, would one day rule the world, with him as their leader, and so he waited. Most of what Apocalypse did during these centuries is as yet unknown. Centuries later, En Sabah Nur discovers a starship created by the alien Celestials in Mongolia. Apocalypse strikes down the ship's guardian, the immortal Saul, and enters the Ship. Unable to understand the technology inside he leaves again, searching the world for a key to the mysteries inside. He finds this key when the time-traveler known simply as the Traveler kills him. The Traveler's techno-organic blood is mixed with Apocalypse's and Ozymandias returns Apocalypse to the Ship. Inside Apocalypse uses his new techno-organic body to link to the Ship and make contact with it. He is transformed and enhanced by Celestial technology, becoming one of the most powerful mutants who will ever live. In 1459, Apocalypse led an army to fight Vlad the Impaler, and personally bested the man who would later become Dracula in single combat. At the time of the Crusades, Apocalypse arranged for the warrior Bennet du Paris to activate his latent mutant powers for the first time. Renaming him Exodus, Apocalypse made him his servant but later cast him into a deathlike trance when Exodus rebelled against him. In 1859, Apocalypse awoke from centuries of hibernation in an underground chamber in London. It was then that he first met Dr. Nathaniel Essex, who believed that through selective breeding of humans, he could bring about the rapid evolution of superhuman mutants. Apocalypse offered to transform Essex into a long-lived superhuman being himself to give him the time to further his research, but at a cost: his servitude. Essex accepted, and Apocalypse transformed him into Mister Sinister. However, the Askani, a clan of rebels against Apocalypse two thousand years in the future, transported Scott Summers and Jean Grey-Summers, also known as Cyclops and Phoenix, to 1859. There they prevented Apocalypse from assassinating Britain's Queen and Prime Minister. Apocalypse, temporarily weakened by a virus with which Sinister had infected him, went back to waiting for the proper moment to reemerge. (However, Apocalypse was awoken in 1897 to deal once more with Dracula) It came a century later, when in a short time the world became populated with a new race of superhuman mutants. Apocalypse first reappeared as the employer of the Alliance of Evil, a team of mutants who battled the original X-Factor. Subsequently, Apocalypse began recruiting his Horsemen. Apocalypse rescued Warren K. Worthington III, alias the Angel, from death and manipulated him into serving him as the Horseman named Death. Worthington's wings had been amputated, but Apocalypse used his advanced genetic engineering techniques to give him new wings with metal-like feathers. Eventually, however, Worthington forsook Apocalypse and returned to X-Factor, and then to the X-Men. Later, Apocalypse infected the infant son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, Nathan Summers, with a techno-organic virus, having recognized that if this child grew up he would be powerful enough to defeat him (and also capable of holding his essence). The Askani once again stepped in and brought the child to their own time period, two thousand years in an alternate future. 's "Psimitar".]] To secure a new host body, Apocalypse sought to siphon the awesome energies of "The Twelve," mutants of incredible power, destined to alter the course of human history. This time, it was Wolverine who fell into the warlord's grasp. The feral X-Man fought his teammates ferociously as the Horseman Death, but broke free from Apocalypse's control. However, Wolverine and his fellow Horsemen had served their purpose. Taking advantage of the distraction afforded by their actions, Apocalypse collected the mutants he required to carry out his plan: Cyclops, Phoenix, Cable, Professor X, Storm, Iceman, Magneto, Polaris, Bishop, Sunfire, the Living Monolith and Mikhail Rasputin. The Twelve were linked to a machine that would channel their awesome energies into Apocalypse, allowing him to absorb the body of X-Man, a time-tossed teenager possessed of vast telepathic and telekinetic power. As his teammates fell around him, a powerless Cyclops shoved X-Man out of the draining circuit, merging with Apocalypse to create a new evil entity. But the telepathic Phoenix, Summers' wife, Jean Grey, detected her husband's psyche inside the composite being and prevented the X-Men from destroying it. Cyclops was presumed dead by most of his teammates; only Cable and Jean refused to believe he had perished. Investigating rumors and hearsay, they helped him reassert his mind over Apocalypse. With Jean's help, Cable exorcised the warlord and seemingly shattered his essence. However, after the event known as the M-Day, Apocalypse resurrected, much to the shock of an archaeologist. Looking at the new world, Apocalypse has seen a need to act as the savior of the mutant race for once rather than just claim it. It was revealed that a younger Cable (then known as "The Traveler") was accidentally responsible for infecting En Sabah Nur with the same techno-organic virus that Apocalypse would one day infect him with, during a battle thousands of years ago. This is what led Apocalypse to be able to interface with the Celestial Ship in Mongolia. The techno-organic virus was also revealed to be the means by which Apocalypse was once again revived. Cable also revealed that he was the one responsible for Apocalypse's revival. With the aid of Ozymandias, Apocalypse started by bringing to Earth the recently depowered Gazer, then pitting him against the archaeologist in a fight to the death to become the horseman War. After Gazer's victory (with the assistance of Ozymandias), Apocalypse approached the newly-legless Sunfire, offering him a slot as the horseman Famine. Apocalypse then sent his horseman Pestilence to a military installation to ingest every disease possible. With three horsemen, Apocalypse went to the Xavier institute, where he offered salvation (which he claims is truly meant for the first time) to the X-Men and 198 mutants seeking shelter. Many mutants, such as Mammomax, Skids, Peeper, Arclight, and Scalphunter, accepted this offer, even though in the case of some it was to counter the affects of Famine. The X-Men, however, went after Famine, who Rogue thought looked familiar. And while War fought against the only manned Sentinel left after Famine's starving affect, Apocalypse waited for the final candidate, Death, who wound up being Gambit. Apocalypse wished to decimate the human population, and let the survivors fight for the right to be under his rule. He was defeated by the X-Men with assistance from ONE, the New Avengers and Ozymandias's betrayal. He fled, only to find himself in front of the Celestials, eager to collect upon their deal. Characteristics Height: Variable, usually 7' Weight: Variable Eyes: Blue Hair: Black Unusual Features: appears metallic at times Powers Strength Level: Apocalypse possesses great superhuman strength that he can increase by drawing upon outside energy sources. Apocalypse is capable of lifting far in excess of 100 tons. Known Powers: Apocalypse is easily one of the most powerful mutants who ever lived. Apocalypse is a Alpha-Level mutant. Body Control: Apocalypse can alter the molecular structure of his body at will. Using this he could alter his appearance or the size of his body by taking on additional mass from a presumably extradimensional source. Through this ability to alter his form, Apocalypse can give himself virtually any superhuman physical power, as he can transform his arms and fists into various melee weapons. Energy Generation: ability to generate energy for a number of effects, including but not limited to: *''Energy Absorption: ability to absorb energy at a seemingly infinite level, he uses this ability to mainly to increase the levels of the other powers he possesses. *Superhuman Speed: by infusing his body with energy he is able to speed up his reflexes and reaction time in which to seemingly move at super speeds. It is this ability that allows him to counteract other with super-speed powers themselves. *Forcefields: ability to erect nearly impenetrable forcefields *Concussive Blasts: ability to project deadly blasts of concentrated concussive energy. '''Telepathy': telepath of the first order, capable of displaying various psionic feats with the minds of others including reading and communicating with thoughts over vast distances. *''Telepathic Illusion: ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring. *Telepathic Cloak: Can mask his presence from being detected by others. His abilities can at times go undetected or be counteracted by other more powerful telepaths depending on their level of skill in using their own psi abilities. He can extend these defenses to others around him as well. *Mind Link: ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual *Telepathic Camouflage: ability to mask herself, and other peoples' presence from those around him. Can telepathically disguise himself, making her appearance to those around his quite different (changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more involved disguising). *Mind Control: ability to control the minds of others upon mere concentration. *Mind Trap: ability to take another’s mind from their body and effectively trapping that mind within his own. *Mind Possession: ability to possess the mind of another, and use that beings body as your own *Mind Alteration: ability to alter the minds of others by force of will. *Mental Amnesia: ability to cause loss of particular memories, and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people *Psionic Shield: ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of others' minds *Psionic Blasts: can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and can kill an adversary. *Astral Projection: ability to Astral Travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others. In the astral realm, where he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects. He cannot engage in long range astral projection on the earthly plane *Mental Detection: can sense the presence of another superhuman mutant within a small but as yet undefined radius of himself by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being. *Mind Transferal: able to transfer both mind and powers into other host bodies should his own physical body be somehow killed '''Telekinesis': possesses telekinetic abilities enabling him to levitate and manipulate living beings, inanimate objects, and to some extent energy psionically. He can “lift” far in excess 100+ tons of weight, and can enable himself to “fly” at great speed. *''Levitation: ability to telekinetically levitate oneself or that of others by sheer force of will. '''Virtual Immortality': Apocalypse has an extraordinarily long lifespan that has already lasted thousands of years. He can survive for weeks without sustenance. Apocalypse's body is highly resistant to physical injury. With the Celestial modifications, this resistance to harm was amplified, although it is still possible, albeit highly difficult, to cause him injury that would not be immediately regenerated by his power. Should he suffer massive injuries that prove potentially fatal, he can enter a coma-like state of suspended animation during which he may recover from his wounds with the assistance of his Celestial technology. *''Superhuman Stamina: Apocalypse's body produces practically no fatigue toxins during physical activity. Apocalypse can exert himself at peak capacity close to indefinitely. *Retarded Aging: his regeneration retards his aging process by basically stopping it in its tracks. *Blood of Apocalypse: As recently revealed, Apocalypse's techno-organic blood has many unique properties. With only a drop of his blood into a vat of organs, blood, etc. the virus can rewrite the genetic code of the material within to form a new body for Apocalypse. *Technology Interface: Apocalypse is able to directly interface with various technologies he has at his disposal. '''Known Abilities:' Apocalypse is a genius, a level of which humanity cannot comprehend, and has knowledge of certain areas of biology, primarily genetics, and technology that is far in advance of contemporary science and technology. This was not merely a result of his exposure to alien technology, as he was able to make significant new advances beyond the alien materials to which he was exposed. Miscellaneous Equipment: Several of Apocalypse's bases have a rejuvenation chamber. Apparently Celestial technology capable of manipulating the genes of mutants giving them altogether new abilities or augmenting the ones they already possess. (The process seemingly has the effect of warping the minds of the subjects more to apocalypse's way of thinking). Transportation: Personal teleportation device. Various Celestial-tech based ships. Weapons: No known weapons. Assuming various Celestial-tech based weaponry. Notes * Character created by Louise Simonson and Jackson Guice *According to the writers at Marvel, "En Sabah Nur" translates to "The First One" in Arabic. However, the phrase actually translates into something more akin to "Good Morning". The reason is that the term is grammatically incorrect, as it should be "Sabah an-Nur", assuming that was what the Marvel writers were shooting for. It can also mean "The Seven Lights"; with "Sabah" literally meaning "seven" and "Nur" meaning "light" in Arabic. This is interesting for Islam depicts the eternal afterlife as having seven heavens, and could be a direct reference to his god-like powers. Since Apocalypse was born thousands of years before modern Arabic existed, this must either be a translation of his true name, or it is a name in Proto-Semitic that simply coincidentally resembles Arabic words. *A little known fact is that Apocalypse was created as a last minute replacement for the Owl, a Daredevil villain who original X-Factor writer Bob Layton wanted to use as X-Factor's main villain. When Layton was removed from the book and replaced with Louise Simonson, she requested that the last page of X-Factor #5 be changed to a shadowy figured named Apocalypse, as Simonson wanted a new character to be the main villain for the book. http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2006/03/16/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-42/ Related Articles * Apocalypse (AoA) See Also * Character Gallery: * Fan-Art Gallery: * Appearances of * Quotations by External Links and References *Marvel Database entry for Apocalypse *"Apocalyptic Accounts" at UncannyXmen.net *Apocalypse at the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki *Apocalypse (House of M) at the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki *Apocalypse (Age of Apocalypse at the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki *OHMU #1, Jul 1989, MARVEL COMICS GROUP © *Marvel Directory ---- Category:Characters Category:Bad Characters Category:Mutant Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Egyptian Category:Living Characters Category:Formerly Deceased Category:198 Characters